Today I enjoyed the outdoors. I chose to carry......

WrongHanded said:
Nice day today, if a little cold. We went for a walk in the snow to look for some tracks and enjoy some views.
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Plenty of deer tracks, including some from them bounding off the trail. What looked to be a house cat judging by the small size. And the direct register of a larger canine paw, which means fox.
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No prints from larger felines despite all the deer activity and favorable terrain.
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But if these aren't black bear tracks, I don't know what else they could possibly be.
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Sorry I didn't throw down a pistol for size a comparison like I often do, but I didn't really want to keep cleaning snow out of these:
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Snow sure does make track identification easier though. :D
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Uppon looking closely at that second set of tracks, I'm pretty sure that's lion. The spacing and pattern is one I've seen dozens of times, and I think I can just barely make out the round shape in the nearest track. Note how narrow the spacing is also, as cats tend to bring their foot falls inward under their body.

Bears have a wider stance and even in half melted snow you'd see claw marks.

I could be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure.
 
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460Shooter said:
Uppon looking closely at that second set of tracks, I'm pretty sure that's lion. The spacing and pattern is one I've seen dozens of times, and I think I can just barely make out the round shape in the nearest track. Note how narrow the spacing is also, as cats tend to bring their foot falls inward under their body.

Bears have a wider stance and even in half melted snow you'd see claw marks.

I could be mistaken, butI'm pretty sure.
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Do you mean the second set of track photos? Or the second picture of the two shots I thought were bear?
 
460Shooter said:
I was talking this one. That looks very lion like to me. You were there, and I know you've spent a lot of time out there, and looking at tracks also. So I may be wrong.
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It's an interesting point that I really hadn't considered. We've got pretty close to a direct register, in prints that looked to be 24 hours or more old. Snow has blow into them, and melting has occured from direct sunlight. So there are no toe or pad indentations to speak of. Now they could be a sloppy diagonal walk (cats tend to diagonal walk with a direct register), or it could be a "pacer" gait (typical of wider bodied animals such as bears).

Bears can over-step, which is apparently pretty typical. In which case we'd see the rear foot of one side directly in front of the front foot of the same side, then farther along the mirror image. But they do sometimes direct register (or close to it) in a pacer gait, when moving at slower speeds.

I can imagine the slight meandering of the tracks to be from an animal watching people on the trail, or catching a scent. Between the two photos, there was bare ground and a track set was not obvious. If I had a more patient wife, I might have confirmed a link between the two sets. But the pic you quoted and the next one appeared to be from the same animal. It worked up a slope to the North, then there was a break of maybe 30', and it appears to me, the same animal turned West, bearing around a small outcropping.

The prints looked a little large to be mountain lion (according to what I've read), and it's hard to tell from the pictures, but the impression do have a shape very much like a bear's rear foot. Though it's certainly possible that a cat was walking slowly in less than a complete direct register, and the front and rear foot falls were offset slightly to cause the bear-like imprint. With the degradation of the prints, and me being a novice tracker, I can't say with certainty that it's not a lion's track. But I wish I'd considered it at the time to scrutinize them a little more carefully.
 
WrongHanded said:
It's an interesting point that I really hadn't considered. We've got pretty close to a direct register, in prints that looked to be 24 hours or more old. Snow has blow into them, and melting has occured from direct sunlight. So there are no toe or pad indentations to speak of. Now they could be a sloppy diagonal walk (cats tend to diagonal walk with a direct register), or it could be a "pacer" gait (typical of wider bodied animals such as bears).

Bears can over-step, which is apparently pretty typical. In which case we'd see the rear foot of one side directly in front of the front foot of the same side, then farther along the mirror image. But they do sometimes direct register (or close to it) in a pacer gait, when moving at slower speeds.

I can imagine the slight meandering of the tracks to be from an animal watching people on the trail, or catching a scent. Between the two photos, there was bare ground and a track set was not obvious. If I had a more patient wife, I might have confirmed a link between the two sets. But the pic you quoted and the next one appeared to be from the same animal. It worked up a slope to the North, then there was a break of maybe 30', and it appears to me, the same animal turned West, bearing around a small outcropping.

The prints looked a little large to be mountain lion (according to what I've read), and it's hard to tell from the pictures, but the impression do have a shape very much like a bear's rear foot. Though it's certainly possible that a cat was walking slowly in less than a complete direct register, and the front and rear foot falls were offset slightly to cause the bear-like imprint. With the degradation of the prints, and me being a novice tracker, I can't say with certainty that it's not a lion's track. But I wish I'd considered it at the time to scrutinize them a little more carefully.
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Something tells me we’d have a good time in the woods together man.
 
Trying my hand at some daytime varmint hunting this past weekend in middle Tennessee.
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A larger Hickory (or possibly a Tulip) from this weekend foray across the hunting property.
300 BO braced pistol, with my AAC SDN-6 suppressor and an old Vortex Spitfire 3X prism scope trying to call raccoon and/or coyotes.

PXL_20220213_203141173.jpg
No gun in this picture but taken the same day a few hours later. That large sycamore tree in the background really popped with the setting sun on its smooth light colored bark. The picture without depth, does not really capture how much that tree visually popped to the naked eye.
 
Stopped in TN for a few days while traveling from WI to SC.
We had to go through Cades Cove our favorite part of the Smokies.
Wish I had a better camera than what comes with my phone. The buck in the field was really nice.
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We hiked to our favorite falls .
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My carry choice was my Taurus 605 357mag.
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WisBorn

Still kicking myself for not picking up one of them (.41 Magnum or .44 Special), at my local gun shop years ago. I figured they would sit in the display case until they finally would be closed out at clearance prices.

Wrong!!!

Next visit they were all gone.
 
bannockburn said:
WisBorn

Still kicking myself for not picking up one of them (.41 Magnum or .44 Special), at my local gun shop years ago. I figured they would sit in the display case until they finally would be closed out at clearance prices.

Wrong!!!

Next visit they were all gone.
Click to expand...
I kick myself for not buying a lightweight (Titanium) 44 special and a 44 mag snubbies when I saw them in a couple of shops here in SC....
 
SwampWolf said:
I like what looks to be a Williams receiver sight mounted on the receiver of your carbine. I have several rifles wearing them because they work so well, especially in heavy cover.
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It is, and, while I like it, I'm carrying the carbine specifically for targets out a bit, so the scope is a big help for my aging eyes. I know some don't like them, but I've no problem with scout scopes and it allows proper function with that top eject. Plus I get decent groups at 100 yards with that little Rossi.
 
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